


After the Same Rainbow's End

by radsappysucker



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Post-Finale, Spirit World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radsappysucker/pseuds/radsappysucker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami looks patient and expectant and vulnerable and intelligent and beautiful, always, always beautiful. Korra fears the adoration swelling inside of her could potentially set the entire Spirit World aflame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Same Rainbow's End

The world shifts, at first, in nearly imperceptible degrees.

They emerge on the other side with eyes locked and hands clasped. That much remains. Her palms might be coated in a thin sheen of sweat, her throat convulsing in its sudden dryness, but Korra only observes these at the periphery of her senses. She locks onto Asami, watching the light dancing across the planes of her elegant face go from golden-green to turquoise-teal. She feels the ebb of four years of struggle leaving her body, catching the hum of the elements in its pull. She isn’t disappointed. For once, she welcomes the vulnerability.

The landscape surrounding the portal looks essentially the same as it did when she had last visited it. Magenta flowers bloom as far as the eye can see in any direction, broken up only by twisted, leafless trees and mountains of jagged ice. But where once the sky had been darkened by clouds, there now exists a smooth gradient of light blues and the faintest hint of orange, as if the sun had just begun to rise.

Asami takes a step forward. She lets go of Korra’s hands to gather both of hers in front of her chest.

“It’s so beautiful,” Asami breathes.

Korra doesn’t look away. “Yeah,” she says, “it really is.”

 

xx.

 

Asami is fascinated with every aspect of the Spirit World. She asks a lot of questions: is the weather always like this? Are there different species of spirits, or are they all unique? Does the Spirit World have, you know… _bathrooms?_ Korra answers them all to the best of her ability, swelling slightly with pride each time Asami nods and hums at her explanations. Their strengths and weaknesses have always complemented each other, but Korra has no doubt that Asami is the smartest person in the mortal world – a fact that still intimidates her sometimes. Asami taught Korra how to drive, how to persevere, how to truly believe in herself. In the Spirit World, Korra thinks she might just have a chance to return the favor.

They stop to rest at the edge of a lichen-covered forest. The spirit portal is still in sight, a now-distant homing beacon whose signal seems to grow weaker the further they travel. They lie down side by side on a bed of moss and look up at the sky in companionable silence.

“I wonder how much time has passed,” Asami says at length. “That walk must have taken us all day, but I still feel like we just got here.”

Korra furrows her brow. “Time doesn’t really matter in the Spirit World. One time I came out of meditation and Tenzin told me I had been gone for five hours, but to me, it felt like only a few minutes.”

“I’m sure that made him pretty jealous.”

“Oh, he definitely wrote it down later.” She tilts her head toward Asami, juts out her lower lip, and tugs at an imaginary beard. “ _Fascinating_ ,” she mutters lowly.

They both giggle at her imitation.

“But yeah, it’s weird,” Korra concludes, looking upward again.

“I’m not used to going without a schedule. If I were back at Republic City right now, I’d probably be…” She trails off in thought and smiles wryly a moment later. “Well, I don’t know what time it is right now, so I can’t say for certain.”

Korra props herself up on one elbow and curves her body in toward Asami. She thinks the other girl looks down briefly before focusing on her face. “Whatever it is, I bet it’s not as fun as vacationing with me in the Spirit World,” she says, an exaggerated lilt of bravado to her voice that quickly fades. “I mean, I’m not saying your life is boring back home – I’m sure you have a lot of cool, important things to do – but I _think_ you’re having fun, right?”

Asami shifts to her side, laughs softly, and rests her fingers on Korra’s forearm. “You’re right, don’t worry,” she says. “I’m having a wonderful time so far.”  

Korra beams. “Good.” Being propped up the way she is gives her a nice view of Asami. Smooth curtains of black hair fan out from her ponytail, bangs curling up at the edge to frame her sharp jaw line. Korra recognizes the prodding of a strange yet familiar emotion. Sometimes girls are so pretty, she isn’t sure whether she wants to look at them or look _like_ them. _I shouldn’t have cut my hair so short_ , she silently laments, then remembers how Asami had complimented it all those weeks ago. _Never mind_.

She breaks out of her thoughts in time to see Asami’s eyes flutter closed, open, closed, open. “Sleepy much?” Korra asks, expression softening.

“A little,” she admits. “I think the sun is messing with my internal clock. It was still nighttime when we left Republic City.”

Korra glances around before scooting backward and patting the moss next to her. “Come here, it’s darker in the shade. Maybe that’ll help.”

It does. They pull out their bedrolls and crawl inside, exchanging goodnights as they make themselves comfortable. Korra is screwing her eyes shut and willing herself to become tired when Asami says her name. “Yeah?” she replies, immediately wide awake.

“Sorry!” Asami says, wincing. “I have a small request.”

“Shoot.”

Asami’s gaze skitters to the side before locking with Korra’s. “Do you think you could… talk for a few minutes? About anything. It’s not a good habit, but I keep the radio on when I’m trying to fall asleep. _Love Amongst the Dragons_ , the _Shiro Shinobi Show_ …”

Korra feels her raised eyebrows relax into their normal position. “I sound nothing like Shiro Shinobi,” she deadpans.

“I know,” Asami concedes with a smirk. “You sound much better.”

Accepting that that was probably true, Korra mulls over various topics in her mind before speaking in a quiet, even voice. “I want to show you a lot of places in the Spirit World, but there are some parts I haven’t been to yet. Iroh says there’s a spirit village and a bunch of really amazing hot springs near Hai-Riyo peak. Water Tribe elders like to tell stories about penguin seals that dive so deep into the ocean, they end up flying in the spirit skies. I don’t know if that’s true. I’d like to see it…”

Words tumble out of her mouth to fall on sleep-deafened ears. Korra herself is in danger of drifting off; the moss grows pillow-like under her cheek, the faint din of the world muffled, the bedroll fitting so flush against her skin as to be nearly indistinguishable from it.

The gradient sky turns solid indigo. She falls asleep without knowing how or when her arm became draped over Asami’s waist.

 

xx.

 

There has been a certain degree of spontaneity to their trip from the very beginning. They embarked on it when the wedding was still in full swing, after all. Mako asked, “Why now?” Bolin asked, “What for?” Their best answer consisted of a shrug, a surreptitious sideways glance, and a shy smile. “Just because,” Korra said.

Shortly after waking, Korra tells Asami of her proposed destination. Asami’s whole demeanor radiates surprise and excitement. “Really?” She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, smiling down at her backpack and then up at Korra. “That would be amazing. I’ve heard so many stories…” 

“Believe me, they’re all true,” Korra replies. She proffers her hand. Asami takes it and pulls herself up. They stroll deeper into the forest with their fingers never once disentangling.

Just because.

 

xx.

 

“I think they like you,” Korra says. “It’s pretty adorable.”

In the immeasurable time since they entered the Spirit World, they have seen relatively scant spirits. Korra doesn’t mind, and Asami doesn’t seem to, either. They had encountered their fair share of spirits over the past three years, many of them curmudgeonly or downright rude Vine-dwellers. If she’s being completely honest, Korra still resents them for refusing to help her with The Kuvira Problem. But that resentment dissolves when confronted by the scene playing out before her.

Asami sits atop a boulder, her legs crossed at the ankles, one hand scratching behind the cartoonishly oversized ears of a giant cat spirit while the other serves as a makeshift tree branch for a gang of colorful roosting puff balls. She looks overwhelmed – but in a good way, Korra thinks.   

“Don’t talk about us like we can’t understand you,” the cat spirit sneers at her. “We’re not your simple Earth pets.”

And there goes her goodwill. Korra opens her mouth to explain and/or fire off a snappy retort (she hasn’t decided yet), but Asami quickly intervenes. “She didn’t mean it that way, Luhao. I know Korra, and I know she respects everyone… especially the spirits.” She cocks her head and smiles for good measure.

The cat spirit seems to accept this. He presses his ample snout into Asami’s palm, stands up, and slinks toward Korra. “You’re lucky to have such an intelligent lover, young Avatar,” he whispers in her ear as he walks past.

Instantly – predictably – Korra flushes with heat.

“We’re not –,” she begins, but thinks better of it and cuts herself short. With a huff of dismay, she watches the spirit’s tail disappear into the foliage.

Concern and curiosity are evident in Asami’s voice when she asks, “Not what?”

Korra responds with a dismissive wave of her hand as she walks forward and plops down in front of the boulder. “It’s nothing.” She absently cracks her knuckles. ‘Lover’ is a bizarre word, she decides. It’s not the first time she’s heard it, but it _is_ the first time it’s been used in relation to her, as far as she knows. It’s a word that, in her experience, is only tossed about in certain contexts: when Opal regaled them with the story of Toph and her absent grandfather, or that time a 10 year-old Korra flipped through an erotic novel left in the compound by a White Lotus guard. Intimate but formally unattached. The spirit said it like it was a good thing, but maybe he didn’t have any other word for it. What word _should_ he have used, though? ‘Girlfriend’ doesn’t really carry the same weight as ‘boyfriend’, though she suspects it might be more accurate. How can they be lovers if they haven’t even kissed yet?

Oh, wow. They haven’t even _kissed_ yet. She groans inwardly at the realization that she has, yet again, jumped to conclusions about the nature of her relationship with someone she cares about.  

She can’t afford to mess this up the way she messed up her and Mako.

Loud rustling catches Korra’s attention, and she looks up, watching as the puff ball spirits on Asami’s arm literally disappear into thin air. The girls ponder this for a second, then lock widened eyes.

“I promise they normally like me,” Korra blurts out.

Asami hops down from the boulder and sits across from Korra. “I believe you,” she says, nudging at one of Korra’s boots with her own. “What’s not to like?”

Korra pulls her knees up to her chest and grins. “Thanks. I’m really glad you’re here, you know. And not just because you’re better at dealing with spirits than I am.”

“You’ve improved, though,” Asami says. “I think the only reason why I’m any good at it is because I’ve always had to be. When you get down to it, spirits aren’t that different from businessmen or celebrities. You have to butter them up without letting them know they’re being buttered up.”

Korra mulls that over silently and nods. “So…,” she begins, leaning back on the heels of her palms. She makes a big show out of contorting her face into a wary expression. “How do I know you haven’t been buttering _me_ up all this time?”

For a half second, Asami looks taken aback. Then she laughs. “I guess you don’t. You’ll just have to believe me when I say I think you’re incredible.”

She leans forward, resting a hand on Korra’s knee. Her thumb traces a spiral in the fabric; her other fingers graze the top of Korra’s thigh. Warmth rushes up into Korra’s face even as her stomach is besieged by metaphorical flying lemurs. More than ever, she senses the line between reality and wishful thinking – a line she had been so careful to maintain around Asami – beginning to blur.  There’s no way she’s imagining the desire in Asami’s narrowed green eyes. She can’t make up the slow parting of Asami’s plump lips. The halo of light surrounding them is definitely –

Korra nearly tumbles backward in surprise. The puff ball spirits have returned with added company. They hover gently around Korra and Asami, the pulse of their multicolored glow acting in tandem with the rapid, laborious beating of Korra’s heart as they float up in a circular column.

She looks up, sideways, stretches around, and then faces Asami again with her mouth open and her eyebrows quirked inward. “Um,” she says lamely.

Asami’s face, though still only inches away from Korra’s, has lost the amorous shade that had colored it only moments earlier. She smiles apologetically and leans in, cupping Korra’s left cheek as she presses a soft kiss to the corner of her lips. “Later,” she promises. “When we’re alone.”

Korra nods and swallows thickly. The spirits decelerate their rhythmic glowing. The metaphorical lemurs continue their frenzied dance.

 

xx.

 

As it turns out, “alone time” is _ridiculously_ hard to come by.

The main reason? News travels way faster in the Spirit World than in the mortal one. Within hours (or maybe minutes) of leaving behind their first metaphysical interlopers, Korra and Asami are practically bombarded with spirit after well-wishing spirit. Even the little guy she had first met inside the Tree of Time momentarily alights on her shoulder.

“Korra!” he cries, wrapping his nubby arms around her forehead. She chuckles and leans into the embrace. “I knew I’d be able to find you.” He peers around. “Is that Asami?” he gasps.

“It is,” Korra says.

“I am,” Asami confirms.

Korra tells Asami how the leaf spirit helped her find Toph. Then she tells the spirit how Asami helped her when she was wheelchair-bound, and when she needed someone to talk to, and when she didn’t believe in herself.

“What I’m trying to say,” she begins, looking between them, “is thank you both so much.”

Asami brushes her knuckles against the small of Korra’s back. The spirit nuzzles into Korra’s temple before fluttering over to Asami, who covers her mouth with her hand and whispers something to him. He grins hugely before flying away.

“Should I be concerned?” Korra wonders, half-joking.

“Not at all,” Asami replies. She loops her arm through Korra’s and steps forward, gesturing at the crest of a nearby hill where the leaf spirit awaits. “We’re just taking a detour.”

 

xx.

 

Before disappearing from sight, their personal Spirit World guide leads them through a grassy valley, a copse of giant mushrooms, and then to a placid pool of water just beyond it. Lilies of nearly every color and pattern imaginable crowd up to the edge of the pond, blossoming so thickly together that the ground beneath is barely visible. A wall of near-solid bamboo fences in the sides that aren’t buttressed by the mushroom forest. Above it all hangs a thin layer of mist.

The girls exchange awestruck looks.

“Do you know where we are?” Asami asks.

“No, I don’t,” Korra replies. “You must not, either.”

Asami shakes her head. “I just asked him to take us somewhere we wouldn’t be interrupted.” She sets her pack down on a patch of grass and kneels, running one forefinger along the edge of a pink-tinged petal. “Guess he thought this place was as good as any other, huh?”

Korra snorts at the understatement. As she sets her pack down next to Asami’s, an idea crosses her mind. “I’m gonna take a dip,” she says, already toeing off her mukluks. “You’re welcome to join me.”

Her shirt goes next, yanked over her head and tossed aside, followed by her wraps and pants. The first time Asami had seen her in a state of undress, she’d been weak, pathetic, downtrodden, unwilling and unable to change clothes or do much of anything else, for that matter. It was embarrassing for Korra on several fronts. Being seen in such a state of helplessness by anyone, not just Asami, had felt nightmarish. But even back then, a part of her balked at the idea that her appearance might repulse Asami. Why would someone so perfect and put-together even bother with someone so broken? She struggled with that question for years. She thinks – she _hopes_ – she has come to a place where she can finally begin to understand it.

Clad in only her undergarments and suddenly very acutely aware of how different this is from those other times, Korra clears her throat, walks over to the pond, and steps in. She wades in to the center. The water is lukewarm and goes up to her chin at its deepest. “Water’s fine,” she calls, briefly submerging herself and wishing, in typical waterbender fashion, that there were more of it. She resurfaces, scrubs at her face, pushes back her short, stringy hair. A quick glance over her shoulder. Then a subsequent lingering glance. Really, it’s more of a flat-out, honest-to-goodness stare at this point.

Asami’s back faces Korra as she pulls on the white straps of her bathing suit, but she turns around before Korra can pretend she wasn’t ogling. Again, they’ve already seen each other in these clothes – but the context is unmistakably different.

Korra scratches the back of her neck. “Wow, you look… um, I’m just not gonna finish that.”

“Snazzy?” Asami offers, pulling her hair loose from her ponytail and joining Korra in the water.

Korra emits a half-groan, half-laugh. “I can’t believe I ever said that. Sorry I’m so lame.”

“There’s no need for apologies. If it makes you feel any better, I think it’s really charming. And I’m sorry if I ever come on too strong.”

“No, no, it’s… I appreciate it. I’m not the best at reading people. You’ve probably noticed.” She looks askance. In her peripheral vision, the pale effervescence of the water illuminates Asami’s kind, patient, stupidly pretty face. “So I’m gonna kiss you now.”

She thinks Asami says “okay” and lets out a breathy little laugh, but it’s all lost in the rush of her hands splayed beneath Asami’s jaw, her nose bumping against Asami’s cheek, her lips hot and hungry on Asami’s mouth. The anxious fluttering in her stomach builds to a crescendo and explodes, flooding her extremities with fire. It feels even better than she had imagined. Asami runs her hands up Korra’s front, from the dip of her waist to the jut of her collar, and her tongue licks a path along the inside of Korra’s cheek with equal thoroughness. That’s enough to coax a moan out of Korra, who grabs Asami’s bare legs and guides them to her hips. Asami complies, and the repositioning that follows is totally worth it for a number of reasons, chief among them the way Asami rests her forearms on Korra’s shoulders and twists her fingers up in the little hairs at her nape.

They break apart a few short moments later, their foreheads touching and their breath coming out in quick, ragged huffs. “I waited four years for that,” Asami finally says. The slight wobble to her voice might be the best thing Korra has ever heard.

She closes her eyes. “Me too. But by the time I realized that’s what I wanted, there was never a right time to do it.”

Asami kisses the tip of her nose and asks somewhat coyly, “When _did_ you realize, by the way?”

“Oh no,” Korra says, her eyes opening to slits. “We are _not_ going there.”

“We are,” Asami insists. She moves her mouth to Korra’s ear and lightly tugs at the lobe with her teeth. “It’s very important.”

A full-body shiver reminds Korra that she is in no position to argue. “Okay, you got me,” she says. “I was on my way to meet you and Mako for lunch when I first got back to Republic City. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was kind of nervous. Then I walked in and saw you waiting for me. After that, I was still nervous, but it was different. And good. It was like… I wanted to be around you all the time so I could feel that way. And I wanted to be the kind of person that _you_ would want to be with, too. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I felt that way even when we were hunting down airbenders in the Earth Kingdom. It just took going away and coming back to you for me to admit it.”  

Asami fixes Korra with a measured, intent stare. She trails her thumb feather-light along the slight dimple in her chin. She kisses Korra. They take their time.

“What about you?” Korra asks, her breath ghosting across Asami’s wet lips.

“What _about_ me?” Asami teases.

Korra jounces her eyebrows. “C’mon, you know…”

Dismay and embarrassment slowly dawn upon Asami. “Yeahhh,” she hedges, grimacing. “I’m not gonna tell you that.”

“What!” Korra exclaims. She moves her hands from the small of Asami’s back and lifts them, palms up, out of the water. “Hey, I told you my story, so it’s only fair if you do it, too.” She grins and mimics Asami’s sultry tone from earlier: “It’s very important.”

Asami sighs, but a fond smile plays at the corners of her lips. “Alright. If you must know, I’ve thought you were gorgeous, strong, and basically perfect from the moment I met you.”

Korra’s eyes widen comically. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. That’s why I couldn’t blame Mako for choosing you. I got the appeal. But I never thought it would go beyond a stupid little crush. Then we were both single, and we started spending so much time together, and, well… here we are.” She brushes aside a small, damp clump of hair clinging to Korra’s forehead, kissing the now-bare spot. “You really messed up my plans, Korra. I wasn’t supposed to fall for the Avatar.”

Korra shrugs, because that’s all she can say to _that_ , really. She wraps her arms around Asami once more and buries her face in the crook of Asami’s neck. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asks. There’s a giddy laugh bubbling beneath the surface of her question, one that finds its counterpoint in the way Asami volleys back “like pulling teeth”. For a while, she alternates between lazily nuzzling and sucking at the taut expanse of skin laid out before her, but she thinks better of it and carries Asami back to dry land. She flops down, Asami in her lap. The two girls continue their amorous explorations until a sudden thrum of spirit energy disturbs Korra’s contentment.

She rears back, a terse _what now?_ on the tip of her tongue, but it dies away as she takes in their surroundings. Every lily in a two foot radius is engulfed in light.

_Great_ , she thinks. _More Spirit World shenanigans._

She returns her attention to Asami, whose face is schooled into a common expression; Korra can practically see the gears shifting in her mind. Before she can figure out why, however, Asami pins her to the ground and kisses her deeply.

It happens too fast for her to close her eyes and kiss back, but even if she had, she’s certain it would have done very little to dull the brilliance of hundreds – maybe even thousands – of lilies morphing into butterflies all at once. They ascend, diffusing the mist that had once obscured their view of the sky. Three moons of different sizes and shades shine down on them.

“I guess that proves my theory,” Asami mutters at length. Her hands and knees still bracket Korra. The temperature is balmy as per usual, but goose bumps dot her skin.

“Wait, what?”

“Your emotions. They influence things here. I noticed that whenever you felt any strong emotion, the environment would change. Sometimes even the spirits would act differently. If you were happy, if you were caught up in the moment – everything around us seemed peaceful. But I think part of you was afraid of things between us moving forward. So the Spirit World acted alternately as a mirror and a defense mechanism.” She grins. “I had to test it for myself.”

Korra blinks a few times and rests the back of her hand against her forehead. “Iroh said that might happen. It has to do with me being the bridge between the two worlds. But I figured it only happened when I was really scared.”

Asami climbs off of Korra, sits down in the flower-free grass, and stretches. “I’m not _that_ scary,” she says, peering down at the girl over her shoulder.

Korra smirks. “You’re scary amazing,” she clarifies. Suddenly craving more physical contact, she picks at the bathing suit fabric bunched together at Asami’s hip. “And hot, and sweet, and smart. Ugh.” She folds her hands atop Asami’s thigh, rests her chin there, and looks up through her lashes, smirk toothier than ever. “Tell me, Ms. Sato: how does it feel to be the smartest person in Republic City AND the Spirit World?”

Asami bites back laughter and taps at her chin with mock-thoughtfulness. “What’s the corniest answer I could possibly give?” she wonders aloud. “I’d say it feels… about half as good as kissing you. Which feels really, really good, all jokes aside.”

Korra tilts her head away, blushing profusely. “I’ll take that,” she says. One of Asami’s hands begins massaging her scalp. The pool of water looks like it’s swallowed the moons. For the first time in a long time, she feels more than okay. She’s going to be so much gloriously more than okay.

 

xx.

 

The stories of Iroh’s absolute greatness are true. Asami confirms it.

He takes to her like a penguin seal to water, natch, and vice versa. Spiritual omnipotence is surely responsible for the uncanny way he anticipates their arrival, but the tender crinkles around his eyes and the fond familiarity that powers his bone-squeezing embraces (extended, at first, only to Korra, while Asami receives the polite bow and shoulder clap reserved for soon-to-be-but-not-quite-yet huggers) – that’s all him. The context of their meeting is far less dire than the last two times Korra saw Iroh, which means the Dragon of the West’s iconic humor is finally on display. “I can assure you that it fits two people quite comfortably,” he says, portly frame taking up most of the doorway to the second floor’s spare bedroom. “Not that I have tried it myself, but you would be surprised by how many love birds grace my shop with their presence and decide to relax for a few days.” He looks at the bed, then back at them. His eyebrows and mouth gravitate closer before ricocheting in opposite directions. “Maybe I should wash the sheets after all.”

That night they guffaw into their pillows about the implications of spirit sex. Asami says Iroh’s a lot like her maternal grandfather. Korra admits she never really knew her grandparents, Katara being the closest thing she ever had to a Gran-Gran. Asami points out that that would make her Tenzin’s niece and her own past life’s granddaughter.

What a weird, wonderful little family she’s made for herself.

Their bed’s possible sordid past is ostensibly to blame for why they don’t get, um, _intimate_ with each other. Korra doesn’t mind, but she can’t shake the feeling that she should. For crying out loud, she has the prettiest woman in the world spooning her in a sheer lavender slip! Asami doesn’t press the issue, though, and neither does Korra. Maybe her 17 year-old self would be more insistent. Probably. In truth, she was too sheltered back then to even picture an attractive person naked, much less… _do_ things with one. Regardless, she likes to count maturity among her present strengths – and she’s not sure, but she thinks part of being mature is knowing when to just let things be. She feels like now might be one of those times. So she lets it be.

They get used to the Spirit World’s long days. Early mornings and late nights are heralded with ginseng and chamomile tea, respectively. The hours in between consist of Iroh and Asami continually one-upping each other at Pai Sho. To her credit, Korra watches their back-and-forth go through at least ten rounds before she decides the mind-numbing boredom isn’t worth holding Asami’s hand under the table and heads outside to meditate. These rituals repeat several times over the course of the week.

On the evening before Korra and Asami leave for the Southern Spirit Portal, the three of them sit on the stoop and watch as the dragon-birds circle Hai-Riyo’s peak in a shadow play against the purple-red gradient sky. Iroh then treats the girls to a tsungi horn performance, accompanied by a six-armed eggplant spirit on the erhu. Asami reclines in Korra’s arms. It’s a perfect apogee to their vacation.

“That was incredible,” Asami remarks, clapping. Korra nods vigorously.

“Thank you, thank you.” Iroh grins, bows to the eggplant spirit, and pats his tsungi horn, reverent. “In the Fire Nation of _my_ day, that was the last song played at almost every wedding. It was a way for the family and friends to wish the newlyweds a safe and happy journey, together, through their new life.” He looks up at Asami and Korra, expression softening considerably. “I know the two of you have been on that journey for some time now, and you certainly don’t need me or my songs to have a successful relationship! But I would be remiss if I did not offer a piece of advice.”

He beckons them forward.

“Your duty to the world cannot be ignored or understated,” he says deliberately. “However, I think you’ll find that the world gives back the love you put into it. Take care of each other. Be as kind as possible, as often as possible. If you have love, the rest will follow.”

Asami and Korra exchange quick, affectionate smiles. Absolute greatness.

 

xx.

 

“So, what’s the plan?”

“…For getting to the portal?” Asami grimaces and adjusts her backpack. “I was kind of hoping you would know.”

“Yeah, no, I’m taking care of that, don’t worry. I meant for when we get back to Republic City. What’s your schedule like?”

“Pretty busy, to be honest. I won’t know just _how_ busy until I also know how long we’ve been gone. If it’s more than a few weeks, I’ll basically be short-term married to the stack of paperwork on my desk.”

“Huh.”

“You’re disappointed,” Asami observes flatly.

“Yeah. It’s gonna be weird, not being around you all the time. I don’t think I’ll like it.” Korra grabs Asami’s hand. The landscape blurs, leaving Iroh’s tea shop far behind, and then they’re only one hundred or so measly yards away from the portal. She stops walking.

“Who says you won’t be around me all the time?”

" _You_ did, just now! You said it yourself: you’re busy. Or you will be. And I’m not really holding out on global politics giving me a break, either.”

“Well, I can’t make any promises about the global politics thing, but I _do_ have a way we can spend almost as much time together.”

By now Korra has picked up on the telltale signs of a scheming Asami. “Go on,” she says, struggling to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“Maybe I’m being presumptuous, but I figured you could move in with me. The Sato estate has been empty ever since Mako and Bolin’s family found a new place to live. It would be really nice, having you around.”

Korra’s eagerness is abruptly crowded out by hesitation. She tries to remember the kissing, the swimming, the butterflies, the water swallowing the moons. “Are you asking me to be your roommate?”

“I’m asking you,” Asami begins, giving Korra’s now-sweaty hand a reassuring squeeze, “to not let our journey end here. It’s up to you to decide what that looks like… but I’m in it for the long haul, whatever it is. Personally, I hope it involves falling asleep next to you every night and kissing you awake every morning, and taking ‘just the two of us’ vacations once in a while. I’m not picky, though.”

Asami looks patient and expectant and vulnerable and intelligent and beautiful, always, always beautiful. Korra fears the adoration swelling inside of her could potentially set the entire Spirit World aflame. With that in mind, she settles on sweeping Asami off her feet and enveloping her in a hug. “I love you so much,” she murmurs against the other girl’s chest. She can feel Asami chuckling before she can hear it, and oh, boy, is _that_ a sensation she wouldn’t mind getting used to.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Asami says, kissing the top of Korra’s head.

“Duh.”

“Good. It’s settled then. And I love you, too.”

Korra tilts her face upward to flash Asami her biggest, most lopsided grin. “I know.” Asami loves her. Asami _loves_ her. And she loves Asami. They’re in love! They’re lovers. Or something like that. The more she turns it over in her head, the realer it becomes.

She keeps one arm wrapped around Asami’s midriff but tucks the other under her knees, carrying her bridal style toward the portal. Grass sprouts up between the myriad winding rivers. Spirits drift all around them. In the distance, the Tree of Time scrapes its gnarled branches against a cloudless sky.

They pause at the lip of the portal.

“It’s gonna be really, really cold on the other side,” she cautions Asami.

“Not looking forward to that, but I’m sure you’ll keep me warm.”

“My parents will dote on you.”

“I _am_ actually looking forward to _that_.”

“…People will talk about us.”

“Let them.”

Korra shakes her head, amazed. “You’re so prepared for everything.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Asami retorts innocently. She frames Korra’s face with her hands and pulls her down for a kiss. “We’re together. The future’s bright.”

Korra beams. “Yeah,” she agrees, stepping forward, “it really is.”

**END**

 

**Author's Note:**

> if you haven't figured it out, the title of this fic comes from the song "moon river". there's a beautiful erhu cover of it on youtube - so that's kind of what you should hear when iroh plays for asami & korra.
> 
> i was inspired by a lot of the headcanons that came out after the finale (and by the finale itself, obv). so inspired, actually, that i wrote my first major piece of fanfiction in three years! whew. that's the magic of canon bisexual power couples, i guess.
> 
> i hope you guys enjoyed it!


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